The Culture we wish to create in our meetings – A4D London

The following statements came from our meeting on Sat 11th March 2017 at the Constitution Pub. This is the culture we wish our group to have. This document can be used as a reference to return to, especially if discord arises amongst members.

We wish to cultivate a culture of collaboration and as much as possible and ultimately have a shared purpose with the aim of co-creating something that’s objectively important for society.

We wish to create a friendly atmosphere with a sense of excitement about what can be achieved (given that we’re entering times when this work will be really important)

Bringing more of ourselves into the room by having group check-ins at start of meetings (how we are doing, not just our political selves) to create a friendly and human atmosphere!

Creating a culture of listening. Respecting the person who is speaking. Not interrupting.

Commitment to a culture of deliberation and having an understanding that this requires time.

We wish there to be a culture of Diversity (with the principle of Unity in Diversity).
This requires a conscious effort to attract new people and become more diverse. This could happen through an alliance. We need to cast our net wide in creating an alliance.

Having an eye for inclusivity – making an effort to help people feel included and help people to understand our perspectives (not assuming everyone will understand names and terminology we might use.)

Having a culture that addresses conflict by:
– utilising the consensus process we have collectively created. (see the flow chart)
– Creating a culture of clarity around decisions made. The Facilitator/note taker reads out decisions and checks for group consensus.
– Seeking to understand that disagreements come from people’s concerns (i.e that their differing viewpoints come from their way of caring for a situation)
– Trusting that conflict can be creative. Having confidence that “the 3rd” is there (e.g not my way or your way – finding our way, our synergy)

– Creating a safe space in which we discuss issues in a de-personalised manner.

– Challenging our own assumptions, worldviews etc. We each have our political perspectives yet we can have a culture of being open and willing to be transformed by the deliberative process.

– Having confidence in each other rather than being suspicious. Sharing our ideas not so that they control the group agenda but so that we get to know and understand each other and where each of us is coming from (a lack of this could be a cause of suspiciousness.)

In general not worrying: trusting our processes will lead to something even if we don’t know exactly where it’s going. “To boldly go” Being intrepid despite not having any guarantees.

Creating a culture of accountability – so that we can have confidence that decisions made get carried out.

A culture of commitment to attend, to read notes beforehand, to respect the decisions made.